The Spirit Siphon (Magebreakers Book 4)

by Ben S. Dobson

  “That is why you are here.” Thiamor hung his head. “I have come to suspect that we are being lied to. The stories coming from Audland about this would-be Emperor… the things he did… And then the airship went down, fully crewed and with Duke Detehr on board. The Architect had claimed the casualties would be minimal, during an early test, not… not this. He used us for his own ends.”

  He raised his eyes to meet hers once more, a glimmer of defiance in them. “Please understand, I did not ask you here to make excuses, nor to apologize. If it truly meant our freedom, I would do it all again. But when I learned that Audish investigators were coming, I knew that the truth would surface, and that we would suffer for it. There are many who still believe in the Architect, but I do not think this Endo Stooke will save us at his own expense. I know he will do nothing to protect our families, those without magic who carry messages for him.”

  “Then help us,” said Tinga. “Help us stop this from happening.” She glanced at the blank-eyed men and women lying all around her, and dug her nails into her palms. “I want to tear this place down with my own hands and I haven’t been here two hours, so I understand why you did what you did. But… I can’t believe that killing each other is the best way. I think keeping the treaty alive is going to do more for you than a war with Audland will.”

  “You must agree to help me, first,” said Thiamor. “Promise that you and your friends will not cast any blame on my people, or those members of our families who you may find at the Architect’s side. They only want to help their loved ones, and many still believe he will grant them magical power that they might use to set us free. Promise that only Endo Stooke will face punishment for this, and I will tell you where to find him.”

  “I promise,” Tinga said. It would have been easy to end it there, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie to him. “But I can’t speak for the others. All I can say is that they’re good people, and I think they’ll understand.” Kadka will, I know that. And probably Tane. But Indree… she might see it as her duty to deliver the truth. She spread her hands. “I just can’t say for certain.”

  Thiamor looked at her for a long moment, as if searching for truth in her eyes, and then, “I believe you mean well, Tinga Vreeg. I choose to trust your instincts. Do what you can for us, and it will be enough.”

  “I will,” Tinga said firmly. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you out of it. The people in here have suffered enough punishment for a lifetime.”

  “Thank you,” Thiamor said, and for the first time his solemnity gave way to a small smile. “I am glad that you tried to sneak in.”

  “Me too,” said Tinga. “Now, tell me where Endo is.”

  _____

  It had been long enough, Tane decided.

  He’d been questioning people pointlessly for close to an hour, and hearing the same pre-arranged responses over and over again had gotten boring very quickly. He’d stopped paying much attention. Instead, his brain had switched entirely over to worrying about Tinga.

  Why did I agree to this? Anything could happen to her. An hour was more than enough time—he had to get her out.

  “That’s enough,” he blurted out over whatever the dwarven man on the other side of the table was saying. ‘Honored to work on the project’, I’d bet. “Thank you for your help, but we don’t need anything more.”

  When the dwarf had made his way out of the room, Tane turned to Richt and Althir, sitting on his side of the table that divided the small auxiliary room they were using for the questioning.

  “Is there a problem, Mister Carver?” Richt asked, the very picture of obviously feigned innocence.

  Besides the fact that every single person we talk to tells us the same thing? “No,” Tane said. “I just have another avenue I’d like to explore. We’ve talked with a number of people from various areas of the project, but what I’d like is to compare statements from everyone working on a single section. When we visited the site, the engines were malfunctioning dangerously, to say the least. I’d like to gather up everyone who worked on them, see if their stories match.”

  “Of course, Mister Carver,” Richt said. “It will require an announcement to get them together in a timely fashion, though. You’ll have to excuse me, I’ll need to use the voice-caster on the top floor.”

  “Go ahead,” said Tane. It’ll be nice to not have to look at that fake smile for a minute.

  It didn’t take long before the message went out across the entire residence. Richt’s disembodied voice rang through the building in Belgrian, untranslated by the earpiece without a speaker to focus on. Though the words were incomprehensible, the tone was cloyingly polite.

  Tane glanced at Althir and raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Let me guess,” he said. “He’s deeply regretful for the inconvenience to the residents.”

  Althir inclined her head. “Along those lines, yes. He’s asked for those who worked on the engine, and apologizes for disturbing their leisure time.”

  “Somehow I doubt he’s so respectful when we’re not listening,” said Tane. He stood up. “I’m going to go have a look at the people heading our way, see if I notice any guilty faces.”

  “I will wait here.” Althir gestured at the ceiling—too short for her full height. “Better sitting than standing, though not by much.” The chair she sat in was built for an ogren, but it didn’t look terribly comfortable, and it creaked under her weight.

  Outside, a few workers had already gathered, lining up along one side of the hall leading to the auxiliary room. No sign of Tinga yet. Tane hadn’t expected she’d be so quick to arrive, but still her absence worsened the anxious roiling in his stomach.

  He took a few long breaths. It wouldn’t do any good to appear agitated. It took time to get around a building this size.

  But as the minutes passed, it got harder and harder to believe that. The line was growing longer as more workers arrived, and Richt emerged from the stairway at the far end of the hall, walking toward him. If he’s back from the upper floors, she should have had enough time to reach us. His heart beat hard in his chest.

  “It looks as if nearly everyone is here,” Richt said as he drew near. “Shall we go in?”

  “Just stretching my legs,” Tane said, forcing a casual smile. “Give me a moment longer.” He did a few swivels at the waist as if stretching, using it as an excuse to look both ways down the hall. Where is she? Astra, I should never have let her go.

  “Of course, but we shouldn’t delay for long,” said Richt. “As I’ve mentioned, we hate to disrupt the lives of our workers for longer than we have to.”

  You’re just worried about getting less work out of the next shift. But Tane nodded, and said, “I understand. I just need—”

  “There you are!” A high goblin voice from behind.

  Tinga. Tane whirled on his heel, and there she was, approaching down the hall. Thank the Astra. He took a slow breath, careful not to show how relieved he was. “What are you doing here?”

  “I got bored waiting,” she said, perfectly flippant. She didn’t stop when she reached them, just continued on to the auxiliary room’s door before looking back. “Are you coming? I want to ask some questions.”

  Tane smiled. She certainly knows how to play the part. “You heard the lady, Mister Richt. Let’s get started.”

  Tinga opened the door and held it, gesturing impatiently for them to enter.

  Tane let Richt go first, and took the opportunity to whisper to her as he passed by. “You took your time.”

  She gave him a look only a girl her age could, like he was too annoying to live. “I’m sorry you had to wait two minutes, I was only solving the case for you.” And then she lowered her voice even further, and said exactly the last thing he’d expected her to say. “I know how to find Endo.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  _____

  TANE WAS ABOUT to climb into the carriage when Tinga caught his eye, glanced pointedly at Althir, and shook her head slightly

&n
bsp; They hadn’t discussed the particulars of her discovery yet. First, to avoid suspicion, they’d had to endure an interminable period of pointlessly questioning the mages who’d worked on the airship engines. It had only been perhaps a quarter hour before Tane had drummed up an excuse to leave, but it had felt like years. Whatever Endo was doing, they couldn’t afford to waste time. Which meant if Tinga didn’t want to talk in front of Althir, Althir had to go.

  He took his foot off the carriage step and turned to face the ambassador. “Ambassador Althir, it occurs to me that we’ve taken up enough of your time. We’re supposed to meet Indree to follow up another lead, and I think Lieutenant Berken will suffice as a guide. If you need to head back to the embassy, you don’t have to worry about us.”

  Althir took the brush-off agreeably, just as he’d hoped. “I do have work that needs to be done. But if there’s any chance you might find yourselves in a sensitive situation…”

  “We’ll be fine,” Tane assured her. “It’s not going to get more sensitive than the workhouse, and we got through that without destroying the peace. We can’t go too far out of line with Berken watching.”

  “Very well, then,” Althir said. “Where are you headed? I’ll tell the driver.”

  Tinga answered for him. “The non-human district. And you take the carriage. We can walk.”

  “Oh. Are you certain? I can arrange for another. It is rather cold out.”

  Tinga shook her head emphatically. “It’s better this way. Trust me.”

  Althir glanced at Tane, a clear question in her eyes.

  “It’s fine,” he said. He didn’t know why Tinga was so keen to walk in the snow, but she had to have a reason. “We’re meeting Berken and Indree on the way.”

  “Well, if you insist.” Althir squeezed herself into the carriage and hunkered down, taking up an entire side. “Best of luck. I hope you find something useful.”

  When the carriage had rumbled off, Tane beckoned for Tinga to follow and led her across the street, just to get some distance from the residence and any potential prying ears. “Alright,” he said, turning to face her, “let’s hear it. What did you find out in there?”

  Tinga couldn’t hide the glint of pride in her eyes. “I convinced some people I was visiting my uncle and wanted to help if I could. They brought me to see Vaelon Thiamor. The spokesperson, the one Richt introduced us to. They said he wanted to talk to me about carrying messages—they use non-magical family members for that, people who can come and go freely. But it wasn’t the real reason. He wants our help. And he admitted that they sabotaged the airship.”

  Tane frowned. “So he’s working with Endo? Why does he want our help, then?”

  “He doesn’t want to be part of it anymore,” Tinga said. “It was Endo’s plan, except they only know him as ‘the Architect’. He told them that if they forced a conflict, Audland would come save them. And to make sure Belgrier didn’t win the war, he said he could give their families magic so they could rise up from within and free the mages when the Audish armies arrived.”

  “Impossible,” said Tane. “Endo can do a lot of things, but not that.” Magecraft was a fluke of Astral affinity that was decided at birth and couldn’t even be detected by conventional divination. There was no way to just hand it out. “Besides, even if he could, he wouldn’t. Giving magic to the non-magical wouldn’t leave him anyone to be better than.” Tane clenched his fists. “Spellfire, what a bastard. He’s using people he’d just as soon see dead.”

  “That’s what I said,” Tinga agreed. “But Thiamor already knew. He figured out who the Architect really is, and doesn’t trust him to keep his end of the bargain. He said he’ll help us if we promise to keep the mages out of it, and any non-magicals we find with Endo. So I promised. And I said you’d all agree too.”

  “Did you now?” Tane raised an eyebrow. Not that he was surprised—that was Tinga all over. It explained why she’d wanted to get rid of Althir, too. This was a secret best kept away from official channels.

  Tinga stuck out her chin defiantly, as if challenging him to disagree. “The way they live in there… even the children are forced to work, Tane. And those bracelets are enchanted to lobotomize them if they try to break them off. Someone offered them some hope and they went after it. They don’t deserve the punishment Belgrier will give them for that.”

  “I don’t disagree,” said Tane. “Richt made some veiled references to the bracelets having a failsafe, but lobotomizing people… And this from a country that worries about us using magic irresponsibly.” Just thinking about it made him shudder. He’d imagined something more along the line of a pain spell. That would have been bad enough—the truth was unconscionable. “I don’t want to make things worse for them, I’m just not sure it’s a promise we can keep.” He spread his hands. “If some of them are still working with Endo, they might not be willing to surrender.”

  “We have to at least try,” Tinga insisted. “They just want to get their families out of the workhouses.”

  That was hard to argue with, and Tane didn’t particularly want to. “You’re right. We’ll do what we can. But where do we actually find Endo?”

  “Thiamor doesn’t know exactly where he is,” said Tinga. “Apparently they use dead drops, and only a few are trusted with Endo’s actual location. But he’s going to send someone out with a message, and we can follow them to the drop. That’s why we need to go on foot. If we stake the spot out, Endo will have to send someone to retrieve the message, and they’ll lead us back to wherever he’s hiding. It can’t be too far.”

  Tane frowned. “It’s not like Endo to leave himself exposed like that,” he said. “But I suppose he’s got no choice. He can’t reliably use magic to retrieve anything—the Guard does sweeps for unauthorized spellcraft. It’s a few more steps than I was hoping, but it’s a solid lead. Nice work, Tinga.”

  Tinga beamed. “Aren’t you glad I stowed away?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” said Tane, with a slight smile. “But you’re not without your uses.” He fished his sending locket from hiding in his trousers. “I need to tell Indree. She’ll want to meet up with us.” He squeezed the pendant.

  Immediately, pressure filled his ears, followed by Indree’s disembodied voice. “Tane? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you, but it was blocked.”

  “The workhouse and residence are warded,” Tane explained. “Listen, we—”

  Indree interrupted before he could finish. “I’m with Kadka now, and we found something. It wasn’t Klenn working with Endo. It was Chancellor Urnt.”

  For a moment, everything he’d meant to tell her disappeared from Tane’s head. “What? Why? What would he possibly have to gain?”

  “Nothing,” Indree answered. “He doesn’t need anything. We had to fight off some of Klenn’s own guards, who had no reason to betray him either. When we subdued them, they just collapsed. Dead. I checked their last memories, and both were old. They were murdered by a mage, and it happened at least a night ago, if not before. Endo is killing the people he needs and using Thorpe’s machine to animate them with Astral energy somehow.”

  “Spellfire,” Tane swore. His head spun at the implications, and his mouth went dry. “If he can do that… anyone could be under his control. Anyone he can find a way to kill. That explains why Belgrian soldiers would have kept engineers from repairing their own airship.”

  “Exactly,” said Indree. “I think that’s why Stennig read so strangely to me—he still had an Astral signature, but it was inert. Endo was pulling the strings. If I’d tried with Klenn’s guards before Endo released control, they’d probably have read the same. And none of them burned up, not like Thorpe’s men did when they were pushed. Probably because they had no Astral energy of their own for the elixir to react with.”

  “And you think Urnt is the same.”

  “Probably others too, but right now I’m most worried about the man with direct access to the Kaiser. We’re trying to track Urnt down now
, but we can’t find him. He was at Klenn’s estate when Kadka arrived, but he didn’t return to the palace. We sent Klenn in to ask around, so it isn’t just that no one wants to tell the Audlanders where he is. He went to the crash site with Klenn recently, and I was able to get a hair for a focus from the carriage they took, but someone is masking him to my divinations.”

  “He’s with Endo.” It dawned on Tane in the same moment as he said it. “We have a lead on Endo’s location. I bet we find Urnt there too. And if Endo’s willing to risk bringing him in, he’s got a reason. Whatever the next stage of this plan is, they’re arranging it now.”

  “You know where Endo is? Why didn’t you lead with that?”

  “I was going to, and then you told me Urnt was a magical zombie. I got distracted. Look, I’ll explain, but you need to get over here. We’re heading for the non-human district, and we shouldn’t run into any wards. A locator spell will get you to us.”

  “Alright. Klenn is going to try to talk to the Kaiser about Urnt before the council meeting tonight. If we can find something by then, we might be able to make them listen.”

  “Tane.” Tinga tugged on his sleeve and tipped her head slightly toward the door of the residence. A young dwarven man with a red beard had just emerged, wearing a heavy coat and scarf.. “That’s him. Thiamor said a dwarf with a red beard.”

  Tane nodded. “Indree, I have to go. I need to focus on something here. Come find us.”

  “We’re on our way. Don’t get into too much trouble before we get there.”

  Tane turned to Tinga as the pressure died in his ears. “Time to see if you’ve been paying attention to my lessons on tailing. Let’s go.”

  _____

  Indree saw Tane before he saw her—but then, she had the benefit of the detection spell tugging her attention directly toward him. He and Tinga were just ahead, crouched behind a snowdrift in the shadows of a small alley, watching a nearby intersection of dirt roads with a single unlit gas lamppost at one corner. The non-human district of Belgrier was all similarly under-developed, the homes falling apart, the streets rough and uncobbled. Snow piled high in places where the sunlight couldn’t penetrate the narrow passages between buildings. All of it had the look of something that had been thrown together a very long time ago and then ignored ever since.